Hughes & Carpenter Exhibit

Industrial & Commercial Development of Trail, BC

Hughes Brothers & WJ Carpenter Photograph Collections

Welcome to the Trail Historical Society’s first curated online photograph exhibit! Many archival collections feature photographic documents attributed to specific, longtime local photographers, whose work slowly find their ways into the local archival repositories for preservation and appreciation. The Trail City Archives houses two such collections, belonging to William Jefferson Carpenter (1861-1925) and the Hughes Brothers (Robert Jaffray, 1888-1953; Leslie Cameron, 1889-1948). These photographers captured much of the early industrial and commercial development of the City of Trail, from the turn of the century until the mid-1940s.

This exhibit will look at the rapid expansion of the “smelter city” and the effect such industrial progress had on the town that rests below its towering authority. To begin, select a chapter in which you may explore the development of our city and the artists who so capably captured its growth.

Special thanks to the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre’s BC History Digitization Program and Teck Metals Ltd. for their generous financial support in the creation of this project.

Special thanks to Les Stanchuk Video Production and Ten Twenty-Three Media for their expertise.